The Romney Opportunity

The times fit the man, if the politician can meet the moment.

Updated Sept. 3, 2012 12:01 a.m. ET

One of the more amusing ironies of this Presidential campaign is the Democratic effort to portray Mitt Romney and his agenda as "extreme" and "radical." The former businessman and church-going father of five may be the least radical man alive. The real question is whether this candidate who is at heart a technocrat has the political and persuasive skills to win the Presidency and rally the country at a time of economic anxiety and national self-doubt.

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney promises to create 12 million new jobs, make America energy independent by 2020, giving school choice to parents, and fewer business regulations if he's elected. Photo: Getty Images.

If a resumé decided the question, the former Massachusetts Governor would win in a walk. As convention viewers have heard this week, his range of experience, and success in multiple endeavors, far exceeds anything Barack Obama could boast in 2008 or today. It's clear he can make decisions and delegate authority, and his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate suggests good judgment and an eye for talent.

The Mormon church elder has led what is by all accounts an exemplary life. He has an admirable marriage and family that seem odd in this era only because they are so free of obvious dysfunction. Mr. Romney also seems to be comfortable enough in his own skin that Americans needn't worry about another President with deep but hidden character flaws. He is competitive but not obsessive. He would not be another paranoid Nixon, bullying LBJ, or Slick Willie.

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His business and management experience also fits the current national moment in the sense that he has the right instincts about how an economy grows. Mr. Obama's single greatest flaw as President is that for whatever reason—early career in academia, his core beliefs—he thinks economic growth can be ordered up by central planners. Tax more here, spend more there, regulate this or subsidize that, and prosperity will follow.

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Mr. Romney knows instead that growth springs from the ingenuity of millions of men, women and businesses searching for the better idea, working to get ahead, looking to strike it rich or become the next Steve Jobs. This change of economic philosophy alone would help to liberate American animal spirits that have been under political assault for the last half decade. In this sense his history at Bain Capital is an asset, and we were glad finally to see his campaign make the unapologetic case for it in Tampa on Thursday.

Yet Mr. Romney seems to understand all this at a level of practical instinct more than as a matter of philosophical or moral belief. Unlike Ronald Reagan, or for that matter his new running mate, Mr. Romney is not a natural conviction politician. As he has often said, he likes to immerse himself in the "data," get the whiz kids in the room, and then come to the smartest technocratic conclusion.

This often works in business but it can lead to all kinds of trouble for a political leader. Some philosophical differences simply can't be bridged. This was the root of his problem with RomneyCare in Massachusetts, where he thought he could build a consensus between a single-payer supporter like Jonathan Gruber of MIT on the left and the Heritage Foundation on the right. He ended up with the prototype for ObamaCare.

Our hope is that Mr. Romney has learned from that painful experience, and there's no doubt he has improved as a candidate. An agenda that at first offered 59 economic policy flavors and dodged big issues has embraced tax and Medicare reform.

A campaign rationale that turned mainly on biography has slowly become larger and embraced the differences between Mr. Obama's model of top-down government ("you didn't build that") and Mr. Romney's entrepreneurial vision. And a candidate who played it safe chose Mr. Ryan as a running mate. All of this is progress.

Yet the ultimate test of any aspirant for the nation's highest office is his power to persuade. This has never been Mr. Romney's strong suit, and his speech Thursday will not make anyone call him the Great Communicator. He will need to do better against the clever, often dishonest charms of Mr. Obama.

Above all, this means taking the economic and tax fight head-on. The Obama campaign clearly believes it can beat Mr. Romney by defining him as a plutocrat who wants to cut taxes for his cronies. And it will prevail if Mr. Romney betrays a guilty conscience or fails to make the pro-growth and moral case for his laudable tax reform.

On this score, the worst single note in Paul Ryan's otherwise successful Wednesday speech was his use of the liberal trope "tax fairness." There is nothing fair about confiscatory tax policy that reduces growth, denies opportunity and keeps more people in poverty. Mr. Romney didn't make that case Thursday night, and he will have to do so going forward and in the debates.

The broader point is that Mr. Romney has to fight cheerfully on the same moral high ground that Mr. Obama likes to claim as his own. If the Republican only argues the practical facts, the President's moral assertions will prevail despite his abysmal record and the harm it has done to so many people.

One Romney advantage here may be that for all of his purported lack of "likability," the Republican is basically a sunny, above-board personality. What you see is what you get. This may be a political plus against Mr. Obama's frequent churlishness when he is challenged.

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If America were in a better place, Mr. Obama would be cruising to a second term. But most Americans have come to realize the country is in trouble and is heading for worse on its current path. Mr. Romney's life experience makes him more than qualified for what Mr. Ryan aptly describes as a "turnaround." History has handed him an extraordinary opportunity if he can, to adapt another business phrase, make the sale.

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